By
Charles Muchiri
Saturday,
February 11, 2012
Liturgical
Year B, Cycle II
Saturday
of the Fifth week in Ordinary Time
Readings
for Mass
First
Reading:
First Kings 12: 26-32; 13:33-34
Responsorial
Psalm:
Psalms 106:6-7, 19-20, 21-22
Gospel: Mark 8: 1-10
Our
Lady of Lourdes/ Blessed Virgin Mary
 |
| Eucharist |
In
today’s readings, and the Gospel in particular, Christ is at it again, performing
miracles. But this time round, the motivation behind the miracle that He performs
is laid bare by St Mark.
Mark quotes Christ as noting of how
His heart is moved with pity for the hungry crowd. They have been with Him for
three days and have not eaten anything. (Mark 8: 2)
Christ understands the human needs,
because even though He is God indeed, He is also Human indeed.
This is a reassurance to us, His
followers; that Christ is also able to appreciate our human needs – Hunger,
thirst, need to be clothed, to be housed, all those things that help us to
live.
Christ’s heart is moved with pity
when we are without these things. The only thing that we need to do is to keep
walking with Him. Note how many days these followers have stuck with Him. Three
days.
And so, blesses seven loaves of
bread and a few fish; and they multiply to become enough food for a staggering four
thousand people. (Mark 8: 9)
And if Christ can feed as much
people so comfortably with as little loaves and fish; won’t He also favour us,
with as little as we already have!
Let’s quickly go back to the First
reading. Jeroboam is a man who is now desperate. God has decided to truncate His
favours from the house of David – through the sins of King Solomon, and for
Him, there is no turning back.
But Jeroboam seems like a typical
man in denial. No it can’t happen; and so in his desperation, he sets up high
places of worship for calves of gold, he makes priests from people who were not
supposed to be made priests, who did not belong to the Levites.
And yes! He establishes a
feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month to duplicate in
Bethel the pilgrimage feast of Judah.
This
feast is dedicated to the molten gods that he had made. Contrast this with the
feast that Christ prepares for about four thousand in the Gospel.
Those
who follow Jesus do not need to offer great feasts for their God, God Himself, in
the form of Christ, prepares a feast for us.
More
pertinently, today, Christ continues to offer Himself as the perfect feast, the
perfect sacrifice, for those who receive Him through the Holy Eucharist.
Today,
Christ’s heart is moved with pity every time He
sees people who are hungry spiritually. It the realization of such a
possibility in our lives, we then need to seek Christ’s favour, so that He me
always keep nourishing us with not only the physical food, but also with the
much needed spiritual food.
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
/Follow this writer on Twitter: @muchirimuchoki/
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